February 11, 2021

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 VOL. CXXXVII

NO. 4

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

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Undergraduate COVID-19 positivity rate reaches 4.47%

At least two Penn students have tested positive for B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19

Penn threatens to invoke a campus-wide self-quarantine if cases continue to rise

The more contagious variant was identified on campus after the students reported travel from the United Kingdom

HANNAH GROSS & JONAH CHARLTON Senior Reporters

JONAH CHARLTON Senior Reporter

Penn’s undergraduate COVID-19 cases doubled for the second week in a row.

Cases increased from 113 to 239 among undergraduates between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, bringing the undergraduate positivity rate to 4.47%. The available on-campus isolation capacity dropped to 56.9%, down from 83.4% during the week of Jan. 24 to Jan. 30.

Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé said there is “no evidence of an out-of-control outbreak” on campus.

The University is working on tracing each case to a specific cluster, but the process takes time, he added.

“With more people on campus, we expected more cases. This part of the data does not worry us. The rapid pace of the increase, however, is a little surprising and concerning,” Dubé said.

The week of testing that began on Monday will be instrumental in determining whether Penn needs to implement harsher restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19, Dubé said. By Friday morning, when the University has the results of Wednesday’s COVID-19 tests, they will be able to make a decision on how to proceed.

Penn will see one of two scenarios arise: a continuation of the doubling of undergraduate cases or a plateau in the number of undergraduate cases, Dubé said. During the fall semester, the University experienced a similar trend in which cases doubled over the first few weeks of the semester and then plateaued. Dubé said he hopes for a similar result this week.

Penn announced that the University is seeing “worrisome trends” in the COVID-19 positivity rate on campus in a message to the Penn community on Friday. Provost Wendell Pritchett, Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli, and Dubé warned that campus-wide self-quarantine

ANDREA MENDOZA

Students in isolation report inadequate resources and communication from Penn ELIZABETH MEISENZAHL Senior Reporter

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of Jan. 31 through Feb. 6 — 4.47% — doubled from the week prior. Penn warned last week that it may invoke a quarantine policy in response to the rise in cases.

College first year Morgan Zinn said that the University wrote in an email to students in isolation that some have been violating the Student Campus Compact COVID-19 guidelines.

On Tuesday, Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé sent an email to students isolating in Sansom Place West urging them to wear masks outside their rooms.

“It has come to our attention that students in Sansom Place West are not wearing a face covering when they are outside of their room, which places members of our community at risk,” Dubé wrote. “Not wearing a face covering is a direct violation of the Student Campus Compact. Students must wear a face covering anytime they leave their room.”

College first year Amelia Hemphill said she has also heard from her friend

s COVID-19 cases continue to spike on campus and isolation capacity decreases, some students isolated in Sansom Place West after testing positive are reporting inadequate and confusing meal policies and violations of safety guidelines.

If a student living in campus housing tests positive for COVID-19, the University moves them to Sansom Place West for isolation. Several of these students, some currently in isolation and some who were isolated last month, told The Daily Pennsylvanian that communication from Penn regarding how to receive meals, what supplies the rooms would have, and what to do if they became symptomatic, was at times unclear.

Penn’s isolation capacity is at 56.9% for the week of Jan. 31 through Feb. 6.

Currently, 388 students are in isolation.

During the week of Jan. 10 through Jan. 16, only 107 students isolated.

The decreasing capacity comes as cases are rising on campus. The undergraduate positivity rate for the week

SEE POSITIVITY RATE PAGE 2

currently isolating in Sansom Place West that students are leaving their rooms and gathering together in large groups.

Students, including College sophomore Noah Beratan, also reported unclear communication from Penn about how they would get food in isolation and what amenities the room would have. Beratan called on Penn to provide food for students in isolation, or at least provide clear information that students will not have food provided.

Beratan was unknowingly exposed to COVID-19 at home a few days before coming to campus on Jan. 10.

When Beratan, who was previously vaccinated in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine study, found out his family members had contracted the virus shortly after he moved in to Harnwell College House, he reported the exposure to Penn and got a COVID-19 test

At least two students have tested positive for the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant — a more contagious form of COVID-19 — since arriving on campus in the past four weeks.

Campus Health contact tracers have been able to link both cases to travel from the United Kingdom, where the variant was first identified.

Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé said the arrival of the B.1.1.7 variant on campus should only reinforce current public health guidelines of daily mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing.

Chief Operating Officer for Wellness Services Erika Gross said the COVID-19 variant was identified after the two students tested positive and reported recent personal or familial travel from the United Kingdom. This prompted Penn to perform genome sequencing techniques on the samples, which then matched the B.1.1.7 variant, she said.

Gross explained that Penn does not perform genome sequencing — an arduous and time-intensive process — on each student sample, and thus it is not possible to say if there have been more than two B.1.1.7 cases on campus since the University invited all students back to Philadelphia in early January.

Given that both cases were linked to travel, Gross said presence of the B.1.1.7 variant serves as a reminder of the risks that traveling presents, particularly ahead of the first of three Engagement Days on Feb. 12. “[The presence of B.1.1.7] is another reason that we are really, really discouraging travel. We know members of the Penn community love to travel. It’s hard for students not to want to travel over a long weekend, but as much as we can, we need people to stay put,” Gross said.

Gross and Dubé emphasized that the students must continue to remain

SEE ISOLATION PAGE 7

SEE VARIANT PAGE 2

Perelman School of Medicine advises faculty to pause undergraduate lab research The decision followed a warning sent by top administrators about “worrisome trends” in COVID-19 cases among the student body DELANEY PARKS Staff Reporter

The Perelman School of Medicine’s Office of the Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer advised faculty to pause undergraduate laboratory research following a warning sent on Feb. 5 by top University administrators about “worrisome trends” in COVID-19 positivity rates among Penn’s undergraduate student population.

In an email to faculty members sent Feb. 7, Jon Epstein, executive vice dean and chief scientific officer of the Medical School, recommended the school to halt undergraduate laboratory research until trends reverse. Epstein did not respond to a request to comment on the decision.

This abrupt change comes after Penn’s undergraduate COVID-19 cases doubled in the last week of January from the week prior — increasing from 56 to 113 positive tests. The positivity rate for undergraduate students rose from 1.05% on Jan. 24 to 1.94% on Jan. 30, and the overall positivity rate rose from 0.92% to 1.12% during the same week.

In the email, Epstein wrote that exceptions may be made “in rare cases” with approval from the Office of the Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer and the department chair, and should be requested with “full justification” and a revised plan describing how such activities could be conducted safely. He also advised faculty members who are currently advising undergraduates doing on-campus research to instead engage with their students through remote research activities. The decision has left students who were waiting to start or resume research projects frustrated, as many had spent months preparing to enter the lab.

College sophomore Lilianne Sutton said that she would have started coming into the Mourkioti Lab the week of Feb. 8, but began anticipating the possibility of delaying her research after receiving the University’s warning about COVID-19 rates.

As a Vagelos Scholar, Sutton had been planning an experiment that would study muscle stem cell activity in mice. After the activity was put on hold in March 2020 due to the pandemic, she said she was finally prepared to begin the project this semester.

“Sometimes if you’re interested in research, it’s very disappointing when you’re not able to go into the lab, because it’s just a very exciting and motivating thing to be able to do, like, ‘I gotta make sure I get this

project done because I want to go in the lab later,’” Sutton said.

College first year Jasleen Gill, who is also a Vagelos Scholar, had been preparing to get into the Thaiss Lab to assist with a microbiome project since late November 2020. She said that her first day in the lab this semester on Feb. 3 was exciting — especially since she had been reading about experiments, meeting with researchers, and going over protocols for almost three months.

She added that she was “amazed” on her first day by the independence her mentor gave her, noting that he allowed her to do parts of the analysis protocol by herself. Gill got nervous, however, when she read the administration’s warning email.

“To be an undergrad and to do research right now and to have that sense of independence — I was very excited. It was very liberating,” Gill said. “And then it got scrapped.”

Both Sutton and College first year Hayden Siesel expressed frustration that the restriction on undergraduate research was a blanket statement with only rare exceptions, rather than a case-by-case basis. “I understand the positivity rate is really high right now, but personally, as a pre-health student, I put a lot of effort into making sure that I am on top of being COVID-19 safe,” Siesel said.

Gill, on the other hand, said that she

“The semester’s survival is at stake, and Penn students must do everything in their power to save it.” - DP Editorial Board PAGE 4 Now that Penn has allowed for sports training to resume, players and coaches are jumping at the chance to compete again while heeding COVID19 restrictions.

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Penn First Plus office for FGLI students opens in College Hall PAGE 2

thought pausing research for everyone was the right thing to do, at least in regard to first years and sophomores who are not yet carrying out their own experiments. She added that while she would much rather be working on wet lab research — where researchers experiment on chemicals and biological matter — she is grateful for the opportunity to work on a dry lab component virtually, although she acknowledged that the experience will not be the same.

Siesel would have begun

working in a melanoma lab, studying why cancers such as melanoma are worse in men than women, and he said that the majority of his work is biological wet-lab research that can’t be done remotely.

“I’ve waited so long to get the vaccine and maintain some sense of normalcy with a social life in a safe way,” Siesel said. “And so it would be sad if I wasn’t able to go into the lab when I’ve been super safe, and [because SEE RESEARCH PAGE 2

SUKHMANI KAUR

István Tombácz works as a research assistant in the Weissman laboratory.

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RESEARCH

>> FRONT PAGE

of] some actions of others, I’m not able to pursue research, which is one of the main reasons I came to Penn.”

Sutton similarly said she has been careful throughout the fall and spring semesters to limit her socialization to roommates in her off-campus housing on 42nd and Chestnut streets. Though she understands the new restrictions on undergraduate on-campus research, she said they’re still “extremely detrimental” for responsible

students.

“I would just like students who are being irresponsible to consider the fact that regardless of whether or not COVID-19 has a serious impact on them or their own health, that it has a serious impact on West Philadelphia, on healthcare resources, and on other students who are being responsible and who are having opportunities taken away from them,” Sutton said.

Gill echoed these sentiments, saying that the spike in

VARIANT

POSITIVITY RATE

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vigilant and follow public health guidelines, especially given the higher transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 variant, as well as other COVID-19 variants.

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study estimates B.1.1.7 to be about 30% to 40% more transmissible than other common variants, confirming previous predictions that it may become the predominant variant in the United States by March. While the B.1.1.7 and other COVID-19 variants have proven to be far more transmissible, they have not been shown to lead to more severe symptoms.

“We’re not out of this yet.

There’s nothing new or different about the public health guidance: This is just another reminder to not be less vigilant. We’re entering a very dangerous complacency phase, where we are all exhausted

cases was caused by reckless behavior, and “shouldn’t have happened.”

According to Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs Tamara Greenfield King, a “completely disproportionate” number of COVID-19 cases has been linked to Greek life organizations at Penn that have held maskless, indoor parties and events in downtown Philadelphia venues.

“To the subset of people at Penn who came to Penn because

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from having to live like this,” Dubé said.

The first case of the B.1.1.7 variant in Pennsylvania was reported in Dauphin County, which is just hours northwest of Penn’s campus, on Jan 7. Other cases of the variant have been detected throughout the United States, although many have not been linked to travel.

This past week, Penn’s undergraduate COVID-19 cases doubled for the second week in a row. Cases increased from 113 to 239 among undergraduates between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, bringing the weekly undergraduate positivity rate to 4.47%.

“These new variants all share this higher transmissibility characteristic, and if we do not remain vigilant, they will probably slow us down a little bit [in recovering from the pandemic], especially if we let our guard down,” Dubé said.

A station at the Annenberg Center testing site on Jan. 19.

KYLIE COOPER

measures may be imposed this week if trends do not reverse.

The University may move to Alert Level Three: Safer at Home on the University’s four-level alert system, which would prohibit public gatherings and require students to quarantine in their place of residence, according to the announcement. Alert Level Three may be triggered by evidence of significant community spread or

of the state-of-the-art research, this is really destroying them,” Gill said. “These restrictions, they could have been prevented.”

Siesel said that he believes a stricter two-week quarantine for all undergraduate students, instead of the Quiet Period from Jan. 6 to Feb. 1, would have allowed the University to start off the semester in “a better place.”

However, he expressed hope that Penn can get its COVID19 numbers under control and

devise a safe way to conduct research with undergraduates.

Penn is currently operating at Campus Alert Level Two: Heightened Awareness, but the Feb. 5 email by University administration cautioned that additional restrictions could be put in place as soon as the week of Feb. 8, which could entail changing the alert level to three, and a campus-wide Safer at Home order.

Epstein added in his email that because of the average positivity rate in the Medical School — 0.10% during the week of Feb.

1 — COVID-19 testing efforts, and safety practices, he is confident in the school’s ability to operate safely, but will continue to adjust protocols as necessary. He wrote that the school will closely monitor the situation in partnership with University colleagues.

“Recognizing that on-site research is an important part of the educational experience for many undergraduates, we will work to facilitate their in-person opportunities as soon as possible,” Epstein wrote in the email.

significant increases in positive cases on campus, according to Penn’s COVID-19 website.

Penn is currently at Alert Level Two: Heightened Awareness due to conditions that suggest increased exposure of students or COVID-19 cases.

There are currently 388 students with COVID-19 in isolation and 644 students in quarantine who were exposed to COVID-19 but remain healthy. The number of students in isolation and quarantine increased sharply from last week, jumping

from 611 students in quarantine or isolation to 1,032 students over the last week.

Penn administered 12,714 total COVID-19 tests between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, with a total positive headcount of 261 cases and an overall positivity rate of 2.22%.

The University administered 397 tests for symptomatic individuals and individuals who had close contact with someone with COVID-19 between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6. These tests accounted for 104 positive tests and a 26.20% positivity rate.

Undergraduates living on and off campus are required to schedule saliva-based screening tests twice a week on pre-assigned days. Graduate students and faculty living on campus must schedule screening testing twice a week on days of their choice, and off-campus graduate students and faculty who visit campus must be tested once a week.

There are currently seven operational testing facilities open to the Penn community during the spring semester.

Williams Cafe, Benny’s Diner to remain closed this spring The closure is another setback for Benny’s Diner, which was set to open in March 2020 KOMAL PATEL Staff Reporter

Williams Cafe and Benny’s Diner, along with many other Penn Student Agencies businesses, will remain closed for the spring semester as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt business operations.

Both WilCaf and Benny’s Diner were closed in the fall due to safety concerns. The spring closure is another setback for Benny’s Diner, which was originally set to open in Houston Hall in March 2020 following spring break but was forced to delay opening after Penn transitioned to a completely virtual semester.

PSA businesses operate under the Vice Provost for University Life, so the decision on whether the businesses could reopen this semester was up to the University, PSA President and College senior Sophia Velasquez said. It remains unclear when they will be able to operate at full capacity again, she added.

“They may be able to reopen in

the summer, but we’re not entirely sure if the University is going to let us move in that direction right now,” Velasquez said.

Executive Director of WilCaf and College senior Tyira Bunche, a former sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian, said she never had much of a chance to operate the cafe as her term as an executive director began last March, just after Penn transitioned to virtual operations.

She said that she has continued to work on the “back end” of operations for the cafe, like re-doing employee handbooks to make them clearer.

“I wanted to [re-do employee handbooks] regardless of the pandemic. Making the handbooks and employee guides a little more clear is something that will be in place when the cafe opens eventually,” she said.

While she remains unsure of when WilCaf will be able to reopen, she ensured her employees that they will still have a job when it does open. Until then, she has encouraged her employees to look for other jobs.

“I don’t want them to be sitting around waiting for us to open,” she said. “I know a couple of people

have taken other jobs, like I know one of my employees actually got a job at Acme when they opened,” she added.

Other PSA businesses, like Penn Closet, Quaker Corner, Special Deliveries, Penn Student Design, Compass Marketing, PSA Bartending, and Penn Lens will continue to operate virtually this semester as they did in the fall.

Only firstServices — a laundry, water, and dry cleaning delivery service — offered in-person services in the fall, but in light of the pandemic, it ceased its delivery of water and instead focused solely on its laundry and dry cleaning services, according to firstServices Executive Director and College senior Ashley Anumba.

“It’s like we’re a new business, quite honestly, given that students are only allowed to work virtually this semester,” she said.

In a typical semester, student employees usually pick up and deliver laundry, dry cleaning, and water cases. Along with halting water delivery this semester, students that work for firstServices no longer pick up and deliver laundry or dry cleaning — the third-party laundry

service the business uses does that instead.

“We’re just mainly making sure things are running efficiently, so it’s much different than what we’re used to,” she added.

The business continues to provide a door-to-door service despite only serving off-campus residents, which Anumba said has decreased the number of students firstServices serves.

“It’s definitely less given that we are only servicing off-campus residents and the bulk of our customers were on-campus residents, specifically [first years],” she said.

Despite the closure of WilCaf and Benny’s Diner and the uncertainty of when PSA businesses will be able to operate normally again, Velasquez remains optimistic about the future of the agency.

“This year was supposed to be a big year of growth in PSA. We had just opened Benny’s and we planned to expand our presence on campus,” Velasquez said.

“That’s still going to happen, it’s just being pushed to the next year.

That’s what we’re going to head towards.”

Penn First Plus office opens in College Hall Students praised the move as a vital step for creating a hub for first-generation, lowincome students MARY TUYETNHI TRAN Staff Reporter

PHOTO FROM MARC LO

The new Penn First Plus office features study spaces, meeting rooms, and lounge areas.

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Penn First Plus opened its new office on the ground floor of College Hall this week, securing a hub for first-generation, low-income students on campus.

Occupying the space formerly used by Penn Admissions, the P1P office covers 2,538 square feet of space and features study spaces, meeting rooms for one-on-one advising sessions, and lounge areas, according to P1P Executive Director Marc Lo. Students praised the opening of the office as a vital step in creating space for FGLI students at Penn.

As of Feb. 3, students are able to make an appointment to visit the office on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays to speak to a director at P1P or for support with technology obtained through P1P, Lo said. He added that he hopes students will be able to use the study rooms in accordance with health guidelines this semester.

Penn first announced the construction of the P1P office as a space for FGLI students in May 2018.

Construction for the office began in September 2019 and finished in August 2020. It was slated to open for the 2020-2021 academic year until the pandemic caused the office to close for the fall semester, Lo said.

Prior to the opening, P1P had no physical place to call its own, Lo said.

“Until this point, we were

borrowing offices from the Vice Provost for Research, who was kind enough to give us two desks on the first floor of College Hall,” Lo said.

Talks about creating a space for FGLI students preceded Lo’s tenure, which began in January 2019, Lo said, adding that seeing the office through to completion has been a priority for him.

Lo said that he envisioned a space where students and advisors — both financial and academic — could meet in one-on-one sessions in meeting rooms. In the future, Lo said he hopes to add a free printing station and coffee machine for student use.

While redesigning the space, Lo consulted with students on the 2019 P1P Student Advisory Board, who he said were instrumental in providing advice and feedback.

“The reason we have the study rooms is because of student feedback that more space [for FGLI students] was needed on campus, especially equipped with technology to do group work,” Lo said. “Students also helped us pick out the furniture and how to arrange it in a way to make it an inviting space.”

College and Wharton senior Karen Herrera, who sat on the advisory board while P1P was designing the office, said that the board prioritized making the office feel “homey” to students.

“We had to emphasize that we wanted it to feel like a place where people would want to go just to hang out to do their homework,” Herrera said.

Herrera and the advisory board also wanted to create a “modern” space that students could access and find easily, adding that many students feel that identity-based spaces on campus are not visible enough.

“I brought this concern up when we were talking about remodeling the space. With the cultural houses, students feel like it’s almost a hidden part of campus because they’re in the basement of ARCH,” she added.

In 2016, Penn became the second

Ivy League institution, after Brown University, to create a resource center for FGLI students when it announced the creation of the FGLI Center. Students said that the FGLI Center, housed in the Greenfield Intercultural Center, acted as a central hub for many FGLI students. The GIC FGLI Program runs the FGLI food pantry, various programming for students, and housed the FGLI donated textbook library until this year, when the collection moved to Van Pelt.

College senior Sakshi Sehgal, who identifies as a FGLI student, said that prior to the opening of the P1P office, the GIC was her go-to physical space for FGLI resources and support from faculty and staff.

“One of the physical spaces that I would often go to is the GIC, whether it be to speak with professional mentors or faculty,” Sehgal said.

Sehgal serves on the Penn First board, a FGLI student organization, which has hosted general body meetings at the GIC. She said that while the Penn First board has not formally discussed whether it would use the P1P office to host meetings, she believed the board would be open to the idea after the pandemic.

“I definitely envision it as being, in a post-[COVID-19] setting, a great place to hold events,” Sehgal said.

Lo said that he looks forward to the upcoming fall semester in anticipation of more freedom from restrictions implemented in light of the pandemic.

“Next fall is going to be a fun experiment to see how students end up using the space,” Lo said.

Students — including Herrera — said the new office is important for creating a community for FGLI students at Penn.

“If you’re the first person in your family to [go to college], if you’re low income, and you compare yourself to your more affluent peers, you want to make it so that students get to really feel that sense of belonging,” Herrera said.

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NEWS 3

In Photos: In a pandemic-altered America, Super Bowl traditions persist in Philadelphia SAMANTHA TURNER Sports Photo Editor

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hree years ago, the streets of Philadelphia were overflowing with excitement. Fireworks were set off, cars were overturned, and traffic poles were taken over by raucous fans. The Philadelphia Eagles had won their first-ever Super Bowl.

This year, those same streets were eerily empty, and many restaurants and sports bars were closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Much of American life has been altered by the pandemic, but the traditions of the Super Bowl remained as strong as would safely allow. Here’s how the Penn and Philadelphia communities watched the game.

CHASE SUTTON

Bars and restaurants put extra precautions in place this year, such as social distancing and limited dine-in options, because of the City of Philadelphia’s 25% indoor dining capacity rule. McGillin’s Olde Ale House had cleaning supplies on the hostess podium.

KYLIE COOPER

American flags were reflected in the window of Brü Craft & Wurst, an alehouse in Center City that welcomed diners indoors to watch the game.

KYLIE COOPER

SAMANTHA TURNER

Although some aspects of the tradition were canceled this year, many remained. Fans and viewers from around the country placed prop bets on outcomes within the game, such as the coin toss result.

The coin landed on heads, and the Kansas City Chiefs won the toss.

Outdoor diners at Tradesman’s in Center City were kept warm by heat lamps in the 30-degree weather.

KYLIE COOPER

Plastic curtains separated diners who were seated outside, reflecting the many TV screens playing the game.

EMILY XU

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs handily, 31-9. Tampa Bay’s defense was dominant, and Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl title, more than any NFL franchise.

SUKHMANI KAUR

Some escaped the cold weather to watch the game inside Allegro Pizza and Grill.

CHASE SUTTON

Although some restaurants and bars offered outdoor viewing experiences and limited indoor dining, others remained completely shuttered on what would have been one of their busiest nights of the year.

4 OPINION

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

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OPINION THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2021 VOL. CXXXVII, NO. 4 137th Year of Publication DANE GREISIGER President ASHLEY AHN Executive Editor HADRIANA LOWENKRON DP Editor-in-Chief ISABEL LIANG Design Editor CONOR MURRAY News Editor PIA SINGH News Editor HANNAH GROSS Assignments Editor BRITTANY DARROW Copy Editor KYLIE COOPER Photo Editor ALFREDO PRATICÒ Opinion Editor SUNNY JANG Audience Engagement Editor BRANDON PRIDE Sports Editor LOCHLAHN MARCH Sports Editor SOPHIE HUANG Video Editor QIANA ARTIS Podcast Editor ALESSANDRA PINTADO-URBANC Business Manager

EDITORIAL

To save our semester, our culture around COVID-19 must change

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his past Sunday, the Perelman School of Medicine’s Office of the Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer sent an email to faculty members advising them to pause undergraduate laboratory research. This email came just a few days after a University-wide notification warning about increases in COVID-19 case counts, and the corresponding possibility that a campuswide quarantine may be imposed.

Both of these communications send a clear message: Because of the actions of some, all may be punished. Over the past week, the undergraduate positivity rate reached 4.47%, and isolation increased to 56.9%. If these numbers continue to increase, it is entirely possible that Penn will order a campus-wide quarantine, or worse yet, send students home. Although not all of the blame for increased case counts can be pinned on any one source, it is likely that a chunk comes from student events held in direct violation of the Student Campus Compact.

Therefore, in order to save the current hybrid semester, Penn undergraduates must change the culture surrounding COVID-19, creating one that takes the disease more seriously.

There is no one attitude towards COVID19 on campus. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that Penn has a unique problem with containing the disease, given its relatively high case rate compared to other Ivy League schools. The logical conclusion of this is that Penn students are engaging in more risky behavior than their peers, an attitude that needs immediate correction. Through engaging in

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n Friday, Penn students received a message from University administrators warning of “worrisome trends” in campus-wide COVID-19 cases and suggesting that an unceasing rise in infections could trigger an Alert Level Three, which would require all students to quarantine in their residences. The message was certainly important, but for many Penn students, it was surprising; yes, many were aware of infractions against Penn’s COVID-19 policies, but throughout the Quiet Period, the published data and messaging from the University indicated no need for widespread concern.

In light of Friday’s announcement, College junior Aden Yacobi started a petition on Change.org calling on Penn to release more transparent statistics and information re-

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of throwing parties, students can hold Zoom happy hours, dine outdoors, or gather safely indoors with their pods.

Penn students must also limit travel off campus, particularly in the rest of Philadelphia. There is substantial research suggesting that infections in the communities surrounding colleges increase as a result of reopenings, putting lives in danger.

Many West Philadelphians have already expressed concern about this exact scenario playing out. In fact, in the last two weeks, the 19104 zip code has had the highest infection rate per 10,000 residents in the city. To prevent further damage, Penn students must limit travel outside of University City when possible by reducing trips to off-campus restaurants, gyms, and indoor locations.

As a last resort, students could try holding their peers accountable through the school itself, namely by reporting violations of the Student Campus Compact. Many would understandably hesitate to report a fellow student, particularly one they have a personal relationship with. However, it may be the only option if other measures do not work.

The semester’s survival is at stake, and Penn students must do everything in their power to save it. The only way to keep the hybrid experience alive, and preserve some sense of normalcy, is for students to directly change the culture surrounding COVID-19 at Penn.

Socially Distant | University administrators need to prioritize the issues that matter most right now, and that means COVID-19

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VARUN SARASWATHULA Deputy Opinion Editor

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Penn students must find more COVID-19-conscious ways to socialize, such as meeting outside with masks on and practicing social distancing. or drugs — and in this case, breaking the Student Campus Compact occur in the Student Campus Compact. However, Penn form of parties, events where students are students have a chance to use it as a force for typically indoors, not socially distanced, good. Primarily, they can promote a positive and gathered in large crowds. While there COVID-19 culture by having tough conver- might be social pressure to attend these types sations with their peers. Although such an of events, undergraduates should recognize idea may seem trite, it is likely that students, that there are other ways to socialize. Instead

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especially first years, breaking the compact are doing so out of social pressure, and putting pressure in the opposite direction may reverse this problematic trend.

Furthermore, Penn students have to find more COVID-19-conscious ways to socialize. Currently, many violations of the

Penn, hiding COVID-19 data only endangers us more

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positive peer pressure, finding virtual ways to socialize, minimizing off-campus travel, and directly holding peers accountable, concerned Penn students can create a more COVID-19-conscious culture.

Peer pressure is typically associated with risky activities, such as consuming alcohol

NATHAN ADLER

garding COVID-19 on campus. The petition’s demands are twofold: “(1) decreasing the lag in reporting statistics on the COVID-19 dashboard and (2) clearly communicating goals of policy,” as stated in its description. “We want the University of Pennsylvania to update the [COVID19] dashboard daily instead of doing it in weekly doses,” Yacobi said in an interview. “It’s hard to see a trend because of the large data chunks that they do it in, and it’s not really helpful because of the lag.”

Many COVID-19 data trackers, including those from Virginia Tech and Harvard University, provide daily test and case counts, occasionally with seven-day moving averages. When presented this way, the data provides

longitudinal information that is more precise. In its current form, Penn’s official dashboard provides the previous week’s COVID-19 data as a sum, and all prior counts as cumulative since Jan. 3, 2021. Yacobi argues that this level of information is too vague to be of significant value to the community. In fact, at the time of Friday’s message to the community, the case counts in question had not yet been visible to the student body. On Tuesday, however, the data was later released to reveal a staggering 2.22% positivity rate, and 56.9% on-campus isolation availability.

Yacobi’s primary concern is with the University’s communication — or lack thereof — with respect to COVID-19 on campus. “I would want more transparency, more information available to students and the public, clear communication of policy goals,” he said.

Sending threatening messages without sufficient data to contextualize them comes across as disingenuous and unnecessarily secretive. Likewise, messages without data lack teeth and are unlikely to stir students into action without further information. If we are to make it through this pandemic as a community, the University is obligated to be forthright about cases, trends, and their locations.

Ideally, we should be able to see the following information on a dashboard: 1. Daily tests administered and positive cases; 2. Seven-day moving averages to illustrate longitudinal trends; 3. Breakdown of cases between undergraduate, graduate, and faculty populations; 4. Cases from on-campus housing locations (delineated by college house) and off-campus housing locations.

This information would give us a better sense of not only how bad the situation is, but also where and among whom. Students living in a particular college house are obligated to know how safe their own home is, not to mention the dozens of dedicated residential advisors and graduate associates who risk their health to do their jobs.

In an ideal world, students would practice COVID-19 safety regardless of how bad cases are on campus, but unfortunately, we live in a world where students party and flout restrictions because of a perceived invincibility. The only way to counter that sentiment is to show how dire the situation is through better data. “If we knew that a certain positivity rate or increase in positivity rate would cause

a campus shutdown, I think that students would work to avoid that, because no one wants that,” says Yacobi.

Yacobi said that he would want the University to send daily email updates with clear information about cases, trends, and how the student body is doing. He says students should have a clear understanding of how COVID-19 is spreading on campus. Though, he also said he understands if some of his demands are unreasonable, but he urges the University to explain why. “If there are reasons why stuff in the petition can’t be met, it’s fine. We just want that to be communicated and we want it to be transparent.”

Yacobi planned to meet with Center for Public Health Initiatives Communications Manager Emily Paterson and Director of Communications for Wellness Mary Kate Coghlan on Wednesday to discuss his petition. “I view this meeting as a starting point and welcome the university interacting with students,” he wrote in an email. “I will go in there with enthusiasm and hope we can help improve transparency and messaging, as well as getting information on how to address the other problems students have since brought up. I look forward to continued interaction with the administration and hope to bring students to the table as the stakeholders that we are.”

We deserve to get a full picture of COVID-19 on campus — not just for our sakes, but for the sakes of those in the communities around us. Every Penn student that contracts COVID-19 could interact with someone in a store neighboring campus or visit a friend for a weekend. Before we know it, a cluster of cases on campus becomes a devastating outbreak in West Philadelphia.

While clearer metrics are not a robust public health intervention, they can add a layer of psychological pressure on the Penn community to act responsibly, and they also demonstrate a commitment to surrounding communities that Penn truly cares about their wellbeing.

Penn undertook incredible risk in its decision to bring students to campus during a global pandemic, and getting through this is going to require complete transparency, full stop.

VARUN SARASWATHULA is a College junior from Herndon, Va. studying neuroscience and healthcare management. His email is vsaras@sas.upenn.edu.

Canceling COVID-19 testing was a disaster

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The spike in cases days after tests were canceled means that an outbreak go undetected and unchecked

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LETTERS Have your own opinion? Send your letter to the editor or guest column to letters@thedp.com.

Editorials represent the majority view of members of The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc. Editorial Board, which meets regularly to discuss issues relevant to Penn’s campus. Participants in these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on related topics.

espite COVID-19 cases reaching an all-time high, Penn made the decision to bring students back to campus at full capacity.

But with the promise of social distancing measures and a strict twice-a-week testing schedule, many undergraduate students felt confident that their spring semester could be both safe and successful.

That is, until Penn canceled first-year and sophomore testing last Monday.

Due to the three-day snowfall that was said to be Philadelphia’s worst in five years, Penn suspended campus operations Feb. 1 and Feb. 2, including COVID-19 testing.

However, dining halls were still open, so many students expressed confusion as to why it was necessary for indoor testing locations to close. In fact, testing was operating for symptomatic and close-contact students, but everyone else was required to wait until their next scheduled test day. For first years and sophomores, who are assigned test days of Monday and Thursday, this meant waiting a full week (Jan. 28 to Feb. 4) before they could receive a test.

Following these canceled tests,

cases rose significantly, with Penn even releasing a message about “worrisome trends in the positivity rate” and threatening to enter

infected individuals can be asymptomatic and unaware that they are sick, testing is a crucial factor in containing the spread of the virus.

turned away, consequently leading them to take matters into their own hands and acquire tests off campus at local urgent care centers. Not

KYLIE COOPER

Natisha Smith checking in Penn community members at the DuBois/Rodin Field testing site on Jan. 19.

Alert Level Three. This sudden increase in positive tests could have easily been avoided if Penn had prioritized testing, instead of letting students believe they were negative and expose themselves throughout the week. Because

As first-year students have been notoriously trying to make friends and go out, they should be the most strictly monitored in terms of testing. Many students — including myself — who tried obtaining tests on their non-scheduled day were

only does this prove Penn’s system to be inefficient, it also shows that students are concerned, and these concerns are not being addressed.

Even worse, Penn did not require students to get tested prior to arrival on campus. Back in

August, self-administered Genetworx saliva tests were meant to be sent to students’ home addresses for mail-away testing. Of course, this did not happen due to the cancellation of the fall semester, but once campus reopened, students assumed this plan would resume.

Instead, testing was not required beforehand, and students came to Penn already infected. Gateway testing was scheduled at students’ convenience, allowing them to expose themselves to their roommates and pod members before obtaining a test.

Of course, students breaking social distancing rules are responsible for the spread of COVID-19, but it is also the school’s job to enforce rules, provide resources, and mitigate the effects of the pandemic. Before immediately blaming students, Penn must provide adequate testing and do its part in limiting community spread.

EMILY CHANG is a College first-year student studying sociology. Her email address is changem@sas.upenn.edu.

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OPINION 5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

This Black History Month, read “Native Son” Dedalus | If you read just one book about systemic racism in America, make this the one The creation of Black History Month was chosen to celebrate the birth of Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist known for his treatise and memoir “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.” But it was Richard Wright who, I think, best articulated how systemic racism plays out in Black America in his bestselling novel “Native Son.” The main character of the book, Bigger Thomas, is a native son of the segregated South Side of Chicago and grows up in a single room with a family of four. He squanders his days playing “white” with his friends, a game where they imitate the manners of “white folks” like army generals and J.P. Morgan.

Bigger’s first encounter with a white family, the Daltons, only intimidates him, as he is someone who doesn’t know how hard to knock on white people’s doors, how far back to sit on a comfortable chair, or how to properly ask for a drink of water. Nor could he understand that the Communist Party, to which the Daltons’ daughter Mary belonged, encompassed committed anti-racists. Filled with fear and hate, Bigger suffocates Mary and covers it up as a communist ransom — a crime for which he was sentenced to death.

But here’s the twist of “Native Son”: Everyone is guilty.

Written in 1940, the book depicts Bigger

Thomas as both a perpetrator and a victim of a larger problem: systemic racism. Take the Daltons: Mr. Dalton, a real estate magnate, donated over $5 million to educate Black Americans, but he also refused to desegregate housing in the South Side on the basis that “it’s an old custom,” enabling the terrible living conditions that shaped Bigger’s distorted worldview. Mary unintentionally evoked fear and unease in Bigger by asking him how “his people” live and eat, oblivious to the fact that her interrogation placed Bigger under the scrutinizing eyes of white ethnocentrism. Lest we vindictively think of Bigger as an ungrateful murderer, Wright reminds us that Bigger was the product of his environment, where he was conditioned into believing that the kindness of white people must be constantly guarded against.

Bigger would recognize the plight his fellow Black Americans face today. Despite moderate progress in poverty alleviation, Black families remain 70% more likely to live in “substandard” housing compared to the rest of the population. The percentage of predominantly Black and Hispanic schools rose from 9% to 16% from 2000 to 2014 as a result of both residential and school segregation.

From Chicago to Philadelphia, police have disproportionately targeted and shot Black residents,

despite express prohibitions against racial profiling — hence, the eruption of Black Lives Matter protests that we saw last year.

This social strife has prompted debates over whether systemic racism is truly culpable for America’s ills, garnering contrasting responses.

While activists have denounced systemic racism in workplaces and government policies, some conservatives have dismissed the term as a canard. If Black Americans are seven times more likely than white people to commit murder, some ask, how can one claim that Black people are disproportionately killed by cops? Doesn’t overrepresentation in crimes justify more shootings?

Such arguments are misplaced, as they ignore the psychological effects of systemic racism that Wright so powerfully illustrates in “Native Son.” Many Black Americans are born into a web of institutions that condition their attitudes and behaviors. Bigger, for one, learned to accept his agony as not a single case of injustice, but rather a fact of life. He adjusted himself to this reality by creating his own laws of being and notions of right and wrong; in his moral template, the only way to survive was to hate and kill the people crushing him — even strangers and well-meaning patrons. Did Bigger’s crime warrant his execution? He certainly

was not blameless. But comparing Bigger’s crime with that of an ordinary white person fails to account for the psychologically debilitating effects of systemic racism. It was a false equivalence 80 years ago — and still doesn’t make sense today.

What makes “Native Son” a classic is that the conditions that gave birth to Bigger’s actions unfortunately remain recognizable today. Discriminatory local laws and business practices continue to trap many Black Americans in generational poverty, imposing on them a distorted model of life from which there is no escape. Denialists of systemic racism are unlikely to stop deflecting blame.

That means much will depend on if we as a society can raise awareness to the fact that high crime rates in Black neighborhoods are a symptom of broader structural inequalities. Reading “Native Son” this Black History Month gives us a timely reminder that the discussion of systemic racism will, and must, continue.

BRUCE SHEN is a College first-year student from Shanghai, China studying German studies. His email is xshen01@sas.upenn.

Ninety-nine years ago in Rome, and one month ago in Washington, fascism rose Guest Column | The parallels between the Blackshirt and MAGA-hat insurrections serve as a frightening historical lesson

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eflecting on the harrowing events of the Jan. 6 insurrection brings to mind how Benito Mussolini came to power as the Italian prime minister in 1922. As we shall see, there are many parallels between what happened in Italy 99 years ago and in Washington on Jan. 6, which show us just how fragile democracy really is.

Throughout 1921 and 1922, Mussolini, leader of the Fascist Party, vowed he would come to power. Italy in 1922 was a country still healing from war, economic crisis, and severe political strife, with an aggrieved lower-middle class who felt abandoned by the political class and was on the verge of being disenfranchised.

At a rally in Naples, Mussolini declared from the podium, “Either the government will be given to us, or we will seize it by marching on Rome.”

Most of the moderate right-wing and centrist politicians, supported by several of Italy’s foremost business leaders, were ready to give Mussolini the benefit of the doubt, under the illusion that the whole movement would eventually deflate itself when confronted by the realities of governing.

Similarly, when former President Donald Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, the mainstream Republican leadership initially dismissed him as a crank. Then, on becoming the official GOP nominee, the common opinion was that the realities of the office would soon tame him. Instead, the truth was that, as told in Bob Woodward’s “Rage,” Trump had “hijacked” the Republican Party. The Republican base obediently followed Trump because his notions best reflected the grievances of the alienated or — more accurately — those who feared becoming overwhelmed by minority communities. The moderate and more centrist elements of the GOP,

including the business lobbies, fell in line with him to guarantee their political future.

When Trump sensed in the last stages of the 2020 campaign that the result would be close, or even that he could lose, he convinced the GOP base and leaders, through a drumbeat of lies and conspiracy nonsense, that the election was “rigged.” It allowed Trump to foment the Jan. 6 attempted coup at the now-infamous rally on the Ellipse. Trump’s remarks on that occasion bear an eerie similarity to Mussolini’s speech in Naples on Oct. 24, 1922.

Political power was the key to both speeches.

Trump wanted to keep it; Mussolini wanted to win it. The fact that Trump then chose to return to the White House while the insurrection played out on Capitol Hill parallels Mussolini’s decision to return to his base in Milan rather than personally lead his followers (the “Blackshirts”) into Rome.

Both men advocated for illegal actions but thought they could dodge the consequences by staying away from the actual fray.

The results of Mussolini’s march were tragic.

The Italian king, threatened by about 25,000 Blackshirts storming Rome, named Mussolini prime minister. Mussolini’s contempt for democratic norms would ultimately bring about the abolishment of elections, as well as the shameful Racial Laws of 1938 and 1939, depriving all Italian Jews of their rights. Had the invasion of the United States Capitol succeeded, something similar could have happened in the United States: Trump remaining in office, backed by an obedient, well-funded GOP composed of cowed moderates and myth-fed, extremist firebrands.

Neither Trump nor Mussolini really considered elections to be the decisive factor in determining

Robinhood is not your friend Andy’s Angle | Be wary of trendy investments that may not stand the test of time

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ne day in 1929, a wealthy day trader exited his office building and went over to a shoe shine stand. He struck a conversation with the boy working the stand, who unexpectedly volunteered stock tips to the businessman. Surprised by this encounter, the day trader then returned to his office and immediately sold his holdings. As the story goes, one of the best sell signals is when a person off the street can tell you what stocks to buy.

In light of the rise of Robinhood, we are now starting to question the validity of this story; perhaps anyone can be an investor. With its mission to democratize finance, Robinhood is amassing a cult following of retail investors, who are casually buying into the firm’s narrative that “you were born [an investor].” In May 2020, the commission-free trading service reported that half of its customers were first-time investors. Since its founding in 2013, the tale of this company seems to be one of empowerment and the American dream.

However, as we learned on Jan. 26 when the stock price of GameStop skyrocketed from $40 to $400 in a matter of days, it is also a tale of remarkable volatility. Although accessibility to financial services is in and of itself desirable, it is only meaningful if people are capable of making informed decisions about their trades. For most college students, trading is yet another trend they cannot miss out on, especially with indefinite lockdowns and pandemic boredom weighing down on them. What some young adults need to realize is that the stock market cannot be taken lightly; even taking into account the likelihood of a fast-approaching economic recovery from COVID-19, it is as dangerous as ever to start investing.

Anyone whose social media feed is even tangentially related to stocks has likely seen this new wave of investing referred to as “gambling.”

Unfortunately, that’s because it is. After their accounts are approved, users are immediately set loose to buy and sell however they please, without trading applications making an extensive effort to educate first-time investors. Like a gambler, you thus make decisions without all the possible information. You blame bad luck for any losses and take credit for lucky turnarounds.

And, most importantly, you are perfectly content playing a game in which the odds are in favor of the house. When people buy stocks, they are essentially buying shares that are priced at the net present value, which accounts for projected growth. One of the primary ways investors make or lose money is when there is a discrepancy in

people’s estimation of the NPV. However, this asymmetry of information clearly favors financial firms, whose data collection capabilities are far superior to those of the average retail investor — let alone a trend-seeking college student.

For those examining recent trends in a vacuum, entering the stock market now may in fact seem not so much like gambling as it is investing at an opportune time. Since last March, the S&P 500 has surged roughly 70%. Booming firms like Tesla are up 800% over the past 12 months. It is worth noting, however, that things could come crashing down as soon as this year.

Bank of America strategists warn that a rapidly expanding bubble points towards a market correction in the near future. Hopping onto the Robinhood bandwagon without considerable forethought does not bode well for most firsttime investors.

In the aftermath of some risky investments like options trading, a series of unwise decisions or overall inexperience could ultimately lead to devastating consequences. Alex Kearns, who died by suicide in June 2020 due to the mistaken belief that he was $730,000 in the negative, is a poignant case in point. Robinhood has since vowed to improve the user interface and implement experience-based restrictions on certain tools.

If you’re thinking that Kearns’ death could be an outlier, you’re right. He is not representative of most people’s experiences with Robinhood. I know many classmates at Penn who are, by my standards, well-informed and enjoy the platform purely for the learning. By this same logic, however, the outliers of success that you observe on social media or among your friends should also not be the reason you start investing.

At a university renowned for its business school and financially literate student body, I cannot be the one to tell you to stop investing, especially if you consistently do adequate research or consider trading to be preferable to a 401(k) or Roth IRA. Instead, I urge you, as a college student, to invest for the right reasons.

Don’t invest to earn quick cash, or to subvert the establishment for fun. Invest if you are truly informed or want the stock market to be your sandbox. Otherwise, sit back and watch others gamble away.

ANDY YOON is a first-year student in the College and Wharton from Seoul, South Korea. His email address is andyy327@ wharton.upenn.edu.

political power in a democracy. Trump’s conversation with Georgia’s secretary of state, when he asked him “to find” 11,780 votes, reflects the former president’s contempt for democracy’s basic instrument. Trump and Mussolini instead considered rallies to be the true measure of their political strength, so much so that the flop of a rally in Tulsa last June caused Trump to immediately reassign his campaign’s chief operating officer.

Of course, the situations in the United States this year and in Italy 99 years ago also present profound differences, as reflected by their different outcomes: Trump failed and was immediately impeached for “incitement of insurrection,” while Mussolini’s insurrection succeeded. In 1945, however, Mussolini was arrested and immediately executed (without trial).

Though I graduated in 1969 — a year after Trump — from the College, I do not know Trump.

I do know, though, that he was not on the Wharton dean’s list in 1968, and that the lectures by the Economics professor we shared, Lawrence Klein (the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1980), had absolutely no effect on him — if his later decisions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, NAFTA, tariff wars, and the emasculation of the World Trade Organization dispute are anything to go by.

As far as I remember, Trump never participated in any of the civic activities that most involved the student body at the time: the Vietnam war, Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, voting rights, the 1968 election campaign, or even the movement to stop University administration from cutting down a number of trees in the Quadrangle.

As unfortunate as it may sound, I don’t believe

there is much the University can do to distance itself from Trump and his family. There are no major buildings or other structures named after him which could be renamed. Penn also cannot legally publish his senior thesis (if he had one) or his transcript without his consent. My only advice — however unsatisfying — is to ignore him and allow his memory to gradually fade away, depriving him of the attention he so desperately wants.

GIOVANNI MANFREDI is a 1969 College graduate now living in Muscat, Oman. He served as the Italian Ambassador for Disarmament at the United Nations and his email is nannimanfredi@gmail.com.

TYLER KLIEM

The Lunar New Year as the ‘Chinese’ New Year: A display of cultural ignorance that harms Remarks with Lark | Swapping the terms ignores the diversity of what the holiday stands for and lumps Asian Americans into one inaccurate identity

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his Friday, Feb. 12, marks the start of the Lunar New Year and celebrates the arrival of the first new moon of the lunisolar calendars, which many countries and territories in Asia traditionally used. It’s a holiday of special importance for many different regions in Asia — Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, and Tibet are just a few of the many different regions that celebrate the Lunar New Year.

When the holiday reaches America, however, the diversity and breadth of what the Lunar New Year stands for is rudely condensed into a narrowed, monoethnic categorization — where many refer to the Lunar New Year specifically as the Chinese New Year and carelessly throw the terms around. Defining Lunar New Year this way is disrespectful to the diverse set of Asian regions that celebrate the holiday.

Referring to and understanding the Lunar New Year as purely the Chinese New Year is also disrespectful to the Asian American community; it masks the heterogeneous nature of the Asian American identity.

To not care about the subtle differences and then mindlessly interchange the two terms is to impose the privileges of being a racial majority onto another racial and ethnic group; the Asian American diaspora is crudely seen as a homogenous group of just “Asians.” By ignorantly adhering to the characterization of the Lunar New Year as purely the Chinese New Year, one molds the Asian American identity into sloppy caricatures that remain wholly unrepresentative of what the Asian American identity really stands for.

Rather than a monolithic one, the Asian American identity is a celebration of “fluctuating composition of differences, intersections, and incommensurabilities.” It is a heterogeneous entity incredibly diverse and dynamic — not just in ethnic origins but also in gender and sexual and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Ignoring and/or suppressing such differences among the Asian American community is dangerous because it underscores the hybridity of what it means to be Asian American, which then inadvertently supports the racist structures and systems that seek to oppress Asian Americans as one homogenous group. South Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese Americans alike are all offhandedly thought of and referred to as Chinese, which devalues the significance and importance of each unique ethnicity, culture, and origin.

“The Walking Dead” and “Minari” actor, Steven Yeun, in a recent interview with The New York Times, shared a fitting statement:

“Sometimes I wonder if the Asian American experience is what it’s like when you’re thinking about everyone else, but nobody else is thinking about you.”

When Asian Americans are identified, thought of, and interacted with as one generalized group, it is an immense disservice to the Asian American lived experience. It’s this ignorance manifested in systemic institutions that has led to the invisibility of an entire diaspora, as Yeun describes. Something as simple as referring to the Lunar New Year as the Chinese New Year, for example, is a seemingly innocent display of ignorance, born from one’s own racial and ethnic privilege, that helps to reinforce the homogenization of Asian Americans and erase our divergent identities.

So as the Lunar New Year approaches, consider first the weight and implication behind your words before saying them. Remember the importance of the Lunar New Year and uplift all different and unique Asian identities equally.

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating the Chinese New Year if you are specifically referring to the Chinese practices and customs, but generalizing all Asian origins and experiences to one is harmful. As this Friday approaches, celebrate the Lunar New Year with greater awareness of, and respect for, the diverse set of Asian regions and cultures from which the holiday originated.

LARK YAN is a College junior from Toledo, Ohio studying philosophy, politics, and economics. Her email is larkyan@sas.upenn. edu.

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ISOLATION

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exposure to Penn and got a COVID-19 test at Irvine Auditorium for symptomatic and exposed students. His test soon came back positive.

Contact tracers initially told Beratan he would have to stay in Sansom Place West for seven days, but he was later told that he would have to stay for 10 days because he was asymptomatic. Penn’s isolation policies require isolation for at least 10 days for both symptomatic and asymptomatic students.

The information Beratan received in an email from the University before isolating gave him a three-hour window to move in and told him that he would have supplies such as linens and cleaning products provided. The email Beratan received also stated that he would have access to meals, but did not offer further details.

Beratan, who is not on a meal plan, found out when he got to his isolation room that this meant he could order meals from the dining hall at a price of $17 per meal, or have food and groceries delivered either by a delivery service or a friend.

Beratan said there were some microwavable

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 snacks and meals in the room when he arrived, like instant ramen. “[It was] enough to get me through probably two or three days, but it wasn’t filling or nutritious meals,” Beratan said.

Beratan said that he did not expect to have to pay out of pocket for delivery during his 10-day isolation. He added that he asked two people, the contact tracer he spoke to and a guard in the building, prior to moving in if his room had a stove, but neither person knew, so he did not bring food with him that he could have cooked. His room ended up having a stove.

“They’re not obligated to feed me if I’m not on a meal plan, but I was under the impression that if this happened they would be providing me with meals,” Beratan said. “That’s what I thought going in.”

Beratan said his family was able to order groceries to be delivered for him, but emphasized that not every student might be able to afford delivery for 10 days.

College first year James Doh, who also isolated in Sansom Place West, is on a meal plan, and said he appreciated that Penn let him order meals both

from the dining hall and from other restaurants through UberEats.

Hemphill was also on a dining plan during her time in Sansom Place West on Jan. 12, but said that even with the ability to order meals online, Penn’s communication about how to order meals was unclear.

Hemphill said that the card in her room, which provided information on how to order food from the dining hall, instructed her that she could order food until 11:59 p.m. for the next day, but when she tried to order food for the next day after 6 p.m., she was unable to.

She instead ate oatmeal from the room out of a cup Penn provided because there were no bowls.

Zinn, who entered isolation on Feb. 4, also encountered difficulties ordering food to his isolation room. Although he is on a dining plan, the Sick, Isolation, and Quarantine meals option to have his food delivered still displayed a cost of $14 instead of one meal swipe. Zinn said he was confused because he thought he would be able to use his meal swipes instead of paying in dining dollars or cash, and felt that $14 for two slices of pizza was excessive.

Doh was never symptomatic during his isolation that began on Jan. 13. During his 10-day stay in Sansom Place West, Doh said he received a call from Student Health Service checking in on him and his symptoms on the first day, but did not hear from SHS for the rest of his isolation.

Hemphill, who was symptomatic, said that nurses called to check in with her three times over her isolation period, and once was told to go to SHS in person because of shortness of breath.

She added that her experience was likely different from those of people isolating now, as the number of students in isolation has increased.

When Hemphill moved in on Jan. 12, she was on the first floor. Now, with rising cases on campus, Hemphill said a friend of hers is living on the ninth floor.

Beratan said that because he was one of the first students to enter isolation at Sansom Place West, he hopes that the University and contact tracers will be able to provide better communication to students for what they can expect about food and their rooms as the semester continues.

“I’m assuming as time goes by, they’ll learn from it,” Beratan said.

SUKHMANI KAUR

The resolution partly calls on Mayor Jim Kenney to declare a citywide emergency on gun violence, as Philadelphia’s homicide rates soared in 2020. The majority of those killed were young, Black men.

Philadelphians petition mayor to address resolution on gun violence Community members petition for the approval of Penn alum and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s resolution to address the city’s increase in gun violence SHEILA HODGES Staff Reporter

In response to Philadelphia’s historic increase in gun violence last year, Councilmember and Penn alumna Jamie Gauthier introduced a bill calling on Mayor Jim Kenney to take actionable steps to address the issue and declare a citywide emergency on gun violence.

Kenney, however, has yet to act on the resolution — prompting members of the Philadelphia community to act in solidarity for its adoption.

The bill, Resolution No. 200447, which was introduced on Sept. 10, 2020, calls on Kenney to implement specific measures such as the Roadmap to Safer Communities, a five-year plan to address gun violence, and the creation of an intervention program for youth involved in or near gun violence. The resolution hopes to allow the City Council to continue to collaborate with the mayor, the criminal justice community, city agencies, and non-governmental partners to reduce this problem.

Vice President for Public Safety and Superintendent of the Penn Police Department Maureen Rush said 499 people died from homicide in 2020, which is the first time homicide rates neared 500 since 1990. The Philadelphia Police Department recorded 50 homicides in January 2021 — the deadliest amount in three decades and a 32% increase from last year. The majority of those who were killed were young, Black men.

Although the resolution was co-sponsored by 14 other councilmembers and adopted one week after its introduction, Kenney has yet to act on the resolution, leading members of the Philadelphia community to petition and protest for its approval. One local resident has been on a hunger strike since Jan. 18 to support the cause.

Gauthier said in a phone interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian that she was fueled to introduce the resolution after the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr. — who she said died in Philadelphia’s third district, which she represents — and discussions with her constituents about how they did not feel safe leaving their residences.

“I speak to people who are living in these neighborhoods and feel like they are living in a war zone,” Gauth-

ier said. “People are scared to go to work and let their kids play outside and enjoy a normal quality of life.”

After such events and the clear spike in gun violence, Gauthier said she is unsure why the mayor has yet to take action on her resolution, which was adopted over four months ago.

“The silence around the issue speaks volumes to folks living in Black and brown neighborhoods, viewing this issue everyday,” Gauthier said.

Despite silence on this particular resolution, Kenney has addressed the city’s gun violence issue in this past.

In 2017, he created the Office of Violence Prevention in order to coordinate the city’s anti-violence efforts with other departments. In 2018, he issued a call to action on violence prevention, which took a new approach in looking at crime through a public health lens, and in 2019, he unveiled the Roadmap to Safer Communities. Although the program effectively reduced the number of homicides in 2019 according to the resolution, these rates were overshadowed by the highest homicide rates seen that year in Philadelphia for a decade.

“We are all steadfast about reducing gun violence in our city, and this continues to be an absolute priority for the mayor and his administration,” a city spokesperson wrote on behalf of Kenney in a Feb. 2 emailed statement to the DP. “As we have stated previously, the mayor put forth a call to action in fall 2018, citing that gun violence is a public health emergency, and we have been working unrelentingly to save lives in the midst of a global pandemic. Instead of arguing over semantics, the City is interested in working together with all stakeholders to address our gun violence epidemic.“ By giving the Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives a role for criminal justice and public safety efforts, the mayor’s office wrote that the City is aligned with the violence prevention work that will lead to a reduction in gun violence.

In response to the upward trend in citywide violence, Philadelphia residents Jessica Craft and Michael O’Bryan created a petition in Dec. 2020 calling on Kenney to address gun violence through Resolution No. 200447. The petition has since garnered over 1,100 signatures — largely from members of the local community.

Craft, founder and CEO of Rock to the Future, a youth services organization that provides free music programs, said that she sees that petition as the first of many steps towards building community pressure against the mayor to address the resolution, adding that she may pioneer future initiatives such as organizing a campaign around

the issue and writing letters to the mayor.

“It has been every day getting notifications on my phone from the Citizen App that there are more shootings and seeing things online and knowing that the students that we work with throughout Philadelphia are personally affected,” she said.

Craft said she learned about the resolution to end gun violence through Gauthier’s social media when it was first introduced last year, and was shocked to learn that Kenney did nothing months after its approval from other councilmembers.

Craft, who said she has known Gauthier for a long time through their involvement in local nonprofits, was motivated to spread awareness about the resolution after Gauthier told her that she was limited in advocating for her own resolutions.

“A lot of the people who are affected by gun violence are teens,” Craft said. “This is urgent.”

In order to draw more attention towards the resolution, some residents are also protesting in addition to supporting the petition.

Jamal Johnson, a lifelong Philadelphian, said that he has lived with gun violence his whole life — and has lost some of his family members to gun violence. He has been leading a hunger strike for Kenney to address gun violence since Jan. 18, and said he will not eat until the resolution is addressed.

As a protester, Johnson said he felt this issue to be “paramount” and took upon a hunger strike as a last attempt of reaching the mayor’s attention.

“I look at this [issue of gun violence] and I just feel that, at this point, people have almost become hostages in their own communities because they think there is no law,” Johnson said.

Johnson has since been in support of the petition and joined the petition’s planning team, which is comprised of local community members.

“I felt compelled to join organizations and other people who are trying to address this issue on different levels, and, as a result, I think that for there to be some possibility for something to be thrown into the tool box and to not even have it addressed is unconscionable,” Johnson said.

All of the residents emphasized that the city’s issue of gun violence is one that needs to be addressed, whether through the resolution’s demands or through other actions.

Jim MacMillan, a Philadelphia journalist and director of the Philadelphia Center for Gun Violence Reporting, is neither in favor nor against Gauthier’s resolution. He agrees with the resolution’s goal of

viewing gun violence in Philadelphia primarily as a public health problem, rather than a law enforcement and criminal issue.

“Violence is a disease,” MacMillan said, adding that exposure to violence can come in many forms such as witnessing violence, living with violence, and being victimized. “Not a metaphor for disease, but an actual contagious disease where the violent acts are the point of contagion.”

MacMillan stated that this lens of seeing gun violence as a public health issue is not new, referencing examples such as a 1992 issue by The Journal of the American Medical Association that was dedicated towards addressing gun violence as a public health issue. Thus, he stated, the problem is not that people are unaware of gun violence being a public health problem, but rather that this viewpoint has not been implemented.

Mary Stricker, a Sociology professor at Temple University, expressed confidence in her support of the resolution and the petition as well.

“I don’t think the bill is perfect — it still involves cops, and I think, at this point, if we don’t realize the cops do way more harm than good then we’re choosing to ignore reality, but simply naming the horrific violence as a citywide emergency, I think is really important,” Stricker said, adding that she would not have advocated for the resolution if not for the many councilmembers she supports co-sponsoring it.

Stricker said she is not confident that Kenney will address the bill after this petition, given his pattern of silence with controversial issues, adding that the protesting may be the only way he will respond to the resolution. The city must focus on funding multiple community organizations to successfully address the problem of gun violence, she said, as one or a few organizations cannot eradicate the problem on their own.

“It is not just about squashing the conflict. It is big,” Stricker said.

Through the petition and other forms of protest, residents hope that Kenney will soon address the resolution in order to save Black communities and other communities of color who are bearing the brunt of gun violence acts.

“I believe the mayor has an obligation to us to help us to be safe in this city,” Johnson said. “I think that he has shown a true lack of leadership in not addressing me, but also in ignoring the will of people on his City Council. And I hope that other people see that the same way, and that they do what they can to have the mayor address this resolution as soon as possible.”

8 SPORTS

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN | THEDP.COM

How are other athletic conferences handling their spring seasons?

SPORTS | Changes include modified schedules and reduced playoff brackets Ibrahim El-Morsy Sports Reporter

While other conferences have already decided to move forward with their seasons, the Ivy League’s decision about the 2021 season is still pending.

In an email on Jan. 14, the Ivy League told athletes and coaches that it has yet to determine whether the spring sports season will occur.

“Unfortunately, the current trends of the virus have not improved, and in fact have gotten worse,” league officials wrote in the update. “Students should understand that there must be significant changes in the state of the pandemic before competition becomes feasible and that a number of factors are outside institutional control. Should competition become feasible this term, it will, at best, result in an abbreviated, and likely significantly curtailed, competition schedule.”

The update, which marked the Ivy League’s first official guidance on spring athletics since November, acknowledged that many spring athletes may need to make enrollment decisions and plan for the spring without any final answer on the status of competition. In November, the league announced the cancellation of winter sports and the delay of all spring competition through at least February.

Penn Director of Athletics and Recreation M. Grace Calhoun passed along the conference’s memo to spring athletes in an email, reiterating that a final decision regarding competition has not been made, but that there is a growing belief that the Ivy League presidents will make a decision about the fate of the spring sports season sometime in February.

Any possibility of spring competition will

be less than a complete season and with partial teams. For competition to be permissible, COVID-19 conditions would need to improve significantly, and campus restrictions on travel and visitors would need to be loosened.

The conference is bringing back activity in phases, and spring phasing has been altered moderately to allow for more sport-related activity.

This phasing is intended as a path to competition, whenever it is deemed safe to resume. Moving through athletic phases will rely on campus guidelines and level progression.

In-person, organized strength and conditioning training will resume in tandem with the University’s color-coded levels of reopening. Penn is currently transitioning from the “Yellow Phase” into the “Green Phase,” following Philadelphia guidelines. On Feb. 1, students were permitted to use athletic facilities in small gatherings, but this was slightly delayed due to a snowstorm.

Meanwhile, hundreds of schools throughout the country and several conferences have already released full baseball, lacrosse, volleyball, and football schedules.

The SEC will stick to the status quo for its 2021 college baseball schedule after much discussion of alternative scheduling protocols.

The SEC will play 10 conference weekends of three-game series and allow teams to play up to 26 non-conference games, as usual. The conference schedule is comprised of the same matchups planned for 2020, meaning that every team will have the same home and away series as that of the canceled season.

All conferences except the Ivy League, including the AAC, American East, Big East, Big South, and Big 10, have planned for lacrosse schedules, beginning as early as Feb. 13. The schedules are not traditional, with some using a double round-robin, some playing a variation of six to eight games, and some split into pods.

KYLIE COOPER Hundreds of schools and several conferences throughout the country have already released full baseball , lacrosse, volleyball and football schedules for the upcoming spring season .

The Pac-12, Big 10, AVCA, and Big 12 conferences have released their schedules for volleyball, with a regular season going from Jan. 22 to April 4. There will be a 48-team bracket, with 30 automatic qualifiers and 18 at-large selections as of now. There are usually 32 automatic qualifiers, but the Ivy League and the Big West do not have plans to play this season.

The FCS conference, one for colleges that did not participate in the fall season, has plans for the spring 2021 season. The NCAA approved of

a spring playoff reduced from 24 schools to 16, with four rounds of games beginning April 18 and continuing through May 16.

All in all, these conferences have precautions in place, from postponing games if teams test positive, to playing in pods and setting up schedules with back-to-back games to reduce transmission. However, the Ivy League delaying its decision shows a dedication to safety. Its final announcement on spring sports should be released sometime in February.

From Penn to Portugal, Antonio Woods’ remarkable story continues SPORTS | The Cincinnati native has shined in his rookie year at Lusitania Dustin Ghannadi Sports Reporter

Calling from the Azores, a Portuguese island group, Antonio Woods had an incredibly positive tone. His kind, welcoming voice and openness was a refreshing reminder of the humility of one of Penn’s best basketball players in recent years.

The Cincinnati native had a decorated career at Penn. Entering the school in 2014, Woods sought to be a multiple-sport athlete. Starting on both his high school football and basketball teams, Woods was determined to play both sports at Penn. How-

ever, the eventual five-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week ultimately decided to focus on basketball, starting in 15 of the Quakers’ 28 games his freshman year.

After a solid rookie campaign, Woods started his sophomore year strong. The guard started the first 13 games and averaged 11 points per contest.

However, an academic suspension forced Woods to leave the program for the next season and a half.

He came back for the 2017-18 year as strong as ever. Starting 32 of 33 games — only left on the bench for Senior Night — he averaged 7.7 points and 3.6 rebounds, helping lead the Quakers to an NCAA Tournament berth. The junior shined in the tournament, scoring double digits in a loss to

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tion.”

Despite the change, Woods has proven to be an essential contributor to the team, averaging 12.9 points per game on 48% shooting from the field.

His versatility is also showing through his 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game.

As his first professional season is beginning to wrap up, the 6-foot-1 guard is optimistic about the future.

SC Lusitania is sitting in a strong position in the league. Currently fifth in the rankings, the group has clearly improved since its 10th-place finish the year before. When asked about the future, Woods says he has aspirations of one day joining the NBA. “That’s the end goal. The NBA is the number one league in the world. If the opportunity presents itself, I would definitely be a fan of making that jump,” he said. “You know, I’m just getting started. This is my first year playing international, so hopefully I will be able to have a long career, and I would love to.”

Overall, Woods is happy with his first year and appreciates being exposed to different cultures.

“I’m learning a lot about the island itself and its history. I’m meeting a lot of people and trying to get down my Portuguese,” Woods said.

“It’s getting there little by little … I love learning about different cultures, experiencing different food, meeting new people, just living life. I like to sightsee. I love traveling the world, so just to have this opportunity is a blessing.”

As his rookie year ends, it will be exciting to follow Woods’ path. His mark on professional basketball has just begun, and he will surely be someone to watch moving forward.

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top-seeded Kansas.

Entering his final season with the Red and Blue, Woods had solidified his position on the team. A mainstay on the court and a defensive anchor, he continued to start and averaged 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. He also recorded 16 points in Penn’s 78-75 victory against defending champion Villanova.

A reliable contributor at Penn, Woods had always dreamed of playing basketball at the professional level. Although he did stay at Penn after his NCAA eligibility, Woods constantly kept his eyes on the next level of basketball. He worked incredibly hard to train and prepare himself for the jump after graduation.

His hard work paid off. After graduation, Woods signed with SC Lusitania, a professional team from the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol.

“That was my dream growing up — to be able to become a professional basketball player,” Woods said. “Right now, I’m just living that dream and I’m thankful for all the people that helped me along the way … everybody who played a part in my role at Penn and helped me graduate — I am very thankful for every single one of them.”

Based in the Azores, SC Lusitania has proven to be a strong fit for Woods.

“The game is very similar to the offense we ran at Penn, so I thank coach Donahue for that,” Woods said. “I even let him know that we have some of the similar sets, as far as the player movement and passing … Of course, playing with a shorter shot-clock has been an adjustment. A lot more possessions, a lot of quick looks, quick opportunities to score, set up your teammates, but overall, I would say it has been a smooth transi-

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ALEC DRUGGAN Recent alumni basketball player Antonio Woods had an encouraging rookie year with the Portugal team SC Lusitania and will be an exciting player to watch for the rest of his professional career.

THEDP.COM | THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN

SPORTS 9

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Penn swimmer Nathaniel Cunnan looks to Olympic Trials and beyond SPORTS | Cunnan qualified for the Ivy Championships in six events over his Penn career Ibrahim El-Morsy Sports Reporter

Nathaniel Cunnan’s time at Penn is coming to a close, and he’s planning to go out with a splash with an appearance at the Olympic Trials this summer.

The Penn men’s swimming senior has been spending his time in the water since he was a toddler and started just like almost everyone else — not as a prodigy, but to learn a survival skill. He found his passion when he began club swimming, which he continued for a decade.

“I used to live in SoCal, which is pretty close to the beach,” Cunnan said. “My parents wanted me to know how to swim and signed me up for lessons when I was four years old. When I was eight, I moved to Northern California, joined another team, and kept swimming.”

Cunnan’s childhood was one of discipline and sacrifice as he trained. However, he believes it served as a foundation for his success in his collegiate years.

“It’s crazy when you’re younger — you go to a swim meet every weekend,” Cunnan said.

“Friends say, ‘Come to my birthday party,’ and with no hesitation, I’d shoot back, ‘Can’t, because of my swim meet.’ It’s not all bad though — you get into a routine: wake up, practice, school, practice, do your work, then pass out.”

Cunnan’s talent began to show in his adolescence, but he had a tough decision to make.

Like other polished athletes, Cunnan had found success in other sports.

“For years up until freshman year of high school, I played everything; swimming, baseball, basketball, even fencing,” Cunnan said.

“I just like trying out everything, but I settled into swimming at the end of middle school. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I can see myself swimming the rest of my life.’”

Throughout this journey, however, Cunnan was never pressured — only encouraged. In fact, he feels as though he owes his success to this.

“I think definitely if I wanted to quit, my parents would let me quit,” Cunnan said. “They might be the most supportive parents. They always drove me to swim meets and supported me in my efforts. It only helped that I really, really liked swimming. Something you figure out in college is that your parents aren’t there anymore. You have to do it for yourself because there’s no one stopping you from quitting because at Penn, there’s no scholarship. If you quit, oh well.”

It was in high school that Cunnan found his stride.

“High school swimming is fun because club is year-round,” Cunnan said. There’s a big meet at the end of summer, in August, and those were my biggest accomplishments. I remember I was trying to make the cut for Junior Nationals. I looked at the scoreboard and made the cut by a tenth of a second. Everyone was freaking out, my coach was jumping up and down. I’ll never forget that, those moments are why I swim.”

After all his high school accolades, it was time to make one of the toughest decisions.

“I took a recruiting trip to Penn senior year,” Cunnan said. “I really liked walking around the campus, the architecture, but especially the team culture. The best way to describe the guys here is balanced. We epitomize ‘work hard, play hard.’ I saw guys swimming at practice and I totally saw myself. I was talking to one of the coaches here a lot, he wanted me to do two things, ‘Pick up the sprint group and have fun.’”

From that point on, Cunnan was set to accomplish those two things, but he faced a special kind of adversity freshman year.

“Freshman year was different,” Cunnan said.

“All of a sudden, you’re not at home, no one’s making you dinner, classes are a lot tougher, training seems impossible. With the help of other guys though, I feel like I adjusted pretty well.”

His records reflected this. Cunnan qualified for Ivy League Championships in the 200-yard free, 50 free, 100 free, 200 medley relay, 200 free relay, and 400 free relay.

“Going to Ivies is exhilarating, especially as

PHOTO FROM NATHANIEL CUNNAN Senior swimmer Nathaniel Cunnan will be competing in the Olympic Trials this summer as a graduate af ter qualif ying his junior year.

Although his senior season was suspended due to the pandemic , Cunnan continues to train ever y day at the West Philadelphia YMCA .

a freshman,” Cunnan said. “We were lucky to have a really strong upperclassmen group, really fast, blowing other teams out of the water.

It’s electrifying to be around that kind of en-

“I looked at the scoreboard, jumped up and down, arms waving, and we all got out of the pool and gave each other bear hugs.”

to compete against my friends. The next thing I know, I swam the 50 free in 23 seconds. I looked at the scoreboard, jumped up and down, arms waving, and we all got out of the pool and gave each other bear hugs. Definitely the best moment of my life.”

Not only did the pandemic suspend the Olympic Trials, but it also paused Cunnan’s senior season. Currently, Cunnan spends his time with housemates off campus and makes daily trips to the West Philadelphia YMCA for laps.

“Goals for the rest of the season are pretty shot,” Cunnan said. “I’m excited for Olympic Trials and I’m training for that daily, but there

aren’t any meets. Fortunately, they’ve allowed the swim team to train at Pottruck starting Feb. 1. It’ll feel great to train with the whole team again.”

As for Cunnan personally, because all athletes in the NCAA were granted a free year of eligibility, he plans to swim for UC San Diego as a graduate student. He still plans to talk to his Penn teammates and have a grand get together once a year.

Wherever his talents take him, Cunnan plans to swim for the rest of his life because, in his words, it’s what he knows best.

- Nathaniel Cunnan

ergy.”

In his junior season, Cunnan won the 50-yard free, 100 free, and 200 free at the Miami Invitational and won the 50 free against Villanova and Harvard.

“The Miami Invitational was funny because we were by and far the fastest team there,” Cunnan said. “We couldn’t go to other invitationals since they were during our finals week, so we left it all on the water at Miami. The dual meets were special because they were rewarding wins.

That’s where we learned to get gritty. They were back to back so we swam in the middle of training, we lifted the day before and practiced three hours the day of. Right after that were Olympic Trials and that grind definitely helped.”

As a junior, Cunnan qualified for the Olympic Trials. He will compete in the first week of June as a graduate.

“It was crazy,” Cunnan said. “It was a time trial at the end of Ivies, and winners had the option to stay on Sunday and try to get their cut.

Olympic-size pools are completely different …

[They’re] way harder. It was only me and three other guys from Penn swim. There were guys from other colleges but I was really hyped up

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021 VOL. CXXXVII NO. 4

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

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SUKHMANI KAUR

Athletes and coaches return to long-awaited in-person practices SPORTS | Athletes are required to wear masks and social distance Joyce Davis Sports Associate

With the dawn of a new month comes new opportunities for athletes to get back into action.

Desperate not to let the COVID-19 outbreak keep them from their passions, Penn athletes are returning to practice, hoping to regain the time they’ve lost from their sports. Now that Penn has allowed for sports training to resume, players and coaches are jumping at the chance to compete again while heeding COVID-19 restrictions.

The excitement from both athletes and coaches is tremendous, and their enthusiasm for their respective sports has only grown in the months that they were away. This is particularly true for freshman athletes, who are eager to get acclimated to their teams.

Freshman Michaela Stan, one of the newest Penn women’s basketball recruits, is one example.

Stan hasn’t let the pandemic stop her, though, as she’s taken any opportunity she can to practice

outside of school since the beginning of the fall semester.

“I was in [Philadelphia] for a couple of weeks with my teammates in the fall, and we practiced together off campus,” Stan said. “And when I was at home, I also practiced then by myself.”

Stan’s basketball schedule is now full, as the Quakers have continued to practice multiple times a week.

“So we practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, in the first phase,” Stan said. “We are broken into two cohorts of 10 and are required to wear a mask and social distance. Each of those days, we’ll spend one hour doing strength and conditioning and one hour doing basketball skill work with our coaches. And on the Wednesday practice, it’s just a 30-minute conditioning session — no basketball.”

Of course, the coaches are more than thrilled at the opportunity to meet with their players, both old and new, and get back into the rhythm of things.

With this return to practice, some things take top priority, namely getting back into shape.

“There are many goals,” men’s basketball coach Steve Donahue said. “One of them is to build a

physical foundation. We need to build the athletes’ strength and cardiovascular system.”

This is the same for many other sports, like lacrosse. Women’s lacrosse coach Karin Corbett talked about returning to workouts and the importance of focusing on technique.

“For [the spring], there are 24 girls on the team, so groups of 10 girls practice together, socially distanced with masks on,” Corbett said. “There’s a combination of foot practices, stick technique training, and body workouts.”

One goal that all teams share is to create a longlasting family of players and coaches.

“The coaches gave us the message that they want us to ‘win every day,’ so I think we’re all excited to play together after almost a year and going to focus on using each day that we’re allowed to practice to get better despite the circumstances,” Stan said. “I think that having that shared team message will unite us and give us a good momentum.”

Donahue also shared this sentiment, as he noted the importance of creating a strong team dynamic through basketball.

“Reconnecting with each other is another one of our goals,” Donahue said. “We need to build team

chemistry even through masks and social distancing. We must build that team camaraderie.”

Luckily for Penn women’s lacrosse, the players aren’t strangers to each other, as they’ve been one step ahead and have been virtually meeting together as a team since the fall semester.

“We would meet on Zoom calls to get to know each other,” Corbett said. “[I created] something called a ‘safe seat,’ which is where you ask players questions. They’re usually fun, like ‘What would you bring with you on a deserted island if you could only bring one thing?’ or something personal, like ‘What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever been through?’

“We also used the calls as an opportunity to educate ourselves about [Black Lives Matter] and social justice. The players were also able to link up, as the freshmen who lived together in the fall met up, socially distanced, and the upperclassmen, as well.”

Whether basketball, lacrosse, or any other sport, each team is using its time wisely and savoring the moments it has together. While the teams continue to return to practice, they can only hope that a return to games will come just as quickly.

Justin Watson wins Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers SPORTS | Watson is the second Quaker to earn a Super Bowl ring Brandon Pride Sports Editor

Justin Watson didn’t play a single down of football in Super Bowl LV, but that didn’t stop him from making history.

With a cannon firing in the background, Watson, a former standout for Penn football, hoisted the Lombardi Trophy proudly on the turf of his home field, Raymond James Stadium, with his parents by his side after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers soundly defeated the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 31-9.

After a 13-year drought from the postseason, the Buccaneers signed fabled quarterback Tom Brady this offseason after his 20 years with the New England Patriots. After an up-and-down start, the Bucs got hot late in the season, resulting in a Wild Card playoff berth. After winning three straight road playoff games, they became the first team to host a Super Bowl they also played in, and thanks to a strong performance from the defense and a nearly flawless night from Brady, they were able to get the job done in historic fashion.

In his third year with the Bucs, Watson was looking to make an impact after finishing last season on a torrid pace for his standards. However, after the Bucs signed former All-Pro Antonio Brown, he saw his playing time diminish, not playing more than 10% of offensive snaps

in any game after Week 7. He finished the season with seven receptions for 94 yards and no touchdowns.

Still, Watson remained a solid contributor on special teams after losing ground in the receiver room, even appearing in the Bucs’ victory over the Packers in the NFC Championship game two weeks ago.

With the win in the big game, Watson became the second Penn football alumnus to win a Super Bowl, with the first being fullback Jim Finn, who, as a New York Giant, coincidentally defeated then-Patriot Brady in 2008, spoiling his quest for a perfect season. However, Finn, like Watson, did not play in the game, as earlier in the year, he had suffered an injury that ended his season and, ultimately, his career.

While Finn and Watson will both always be Super Bowl champions, no Penn football alumnus has ever played in a Super Bowl, win or lose, to this day.

Watson, who is under contract for one more season under his rookie deal, will look to change that next season. As Brady and the Bucs have indicated that they have every intention of running it back next year at SoFi Stadium, our attention will shift to what kind of a role Watson plays in that pursuit.

Although he was buried in the receiver depth chart this year, a couple of the star players in front of him, namely Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown, will be free agents this offseason, and it remains to be seen if they will return to

PHOTO FROM THE TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS W h i l e h e d i d n ’ t s e e t h e f i e l d o n S u n d ay, J u s t i n Wa t s o n s t i l l m a d e h i s to r y by b e c o m i n g th e se c o n d Pe n n A l u m n i to wi n a S u p e r B owl ri n g af te r J i m F i n n i n 20 0 8 .

Tampa. Should they leave, it is plausible that Watson could see playing time at receiver again.

However, given the ever-changing state of NFL rosters, it’s also possible that the Bucs will set Watson free and he will try to catch on elsewhere.

FOLLOW US @DAILYPENN FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ONLINE AT THEDP.COM

But Watson surely isn’t thinking about that right now. Now, he’s basking in the glory that comes with the distinct honor of winning a Super Bowl championship, a feeling he’ll almost certainly never forget.

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